🔗 Share this article Xenophobia Making a Comeback in British Political Landscape, Making Citizens Fearful, the Prime Minister Declares Decades-old racism has come back to British the political arena, which creates deeply uneasy, Keir Starmer warned, alerting that polarizing hard-right politics are “tearing our country apart”. Addressing Racist Language and Harmful Politics Speaking with GP and TV personality a well-known TV doctor, Starmer accused Nigel Farage’s Reform UK of overseeing the revival to discriminatory and divisive political discourse “that frankly I thought we had dealt with years back”. In the interview, which aired on a popular morning program this week, Starmer also gave a clear indication that the limit on child benefits might be scrapped during the upcoming fiscal announcement in the coming weeks. Promise to Combat Poverty Among Children When questioned whether he would scrap this restriction, which charities have said is the biggest driver of poverty for children across Britain, Starmer said: “I can tell you in no uncertain terms I am committed to drive child poverty down.” He listed measures the government has already launched including no-cost school lunches, breakfast clubs, and child care support but added: “We must go beyond these efforts, and I assure you and tell you I will personally focus to driving down childhood poverty.” Pressed on whether his remarks indicated he intended to remove the two-child cap, Starmer stated he “wouldn’t be telling you we plan to reduce child poverty if I wasn’t clear that we will implement several steps to achieve this”. Strong Signals from the Chancellor Rachel Reeves, gave an equally strong hint earlier this week stating to a national radio station how finally, a child should not be penalised due to their family’s financial situation”. Ministers are getting ready to remove the cap completely, after initially considering phasing it out for bigger households or wealthier families. The Resolution Foundation projects the expense would be about £3.5bn by the end of the decade. Political Divide and National Renewal In the interview, Starmer said the ideological split currently in Britain was between the government’s vision for renewal and Reform’s harmful divisiveness and others on the right who were “tearing our country apart”. “Certain language currently circulating – racist rhetoric, divisive rhetoric – that frankly I thought had been addressed long ago is coming back into politics and it makes people feel very scared,” he stated. “We have to stand up such discrimination, that division, and we have to proudly say that British identity means showing empathy, is about being fair, entails tolerance and compassionate, and we’re proud of that.” Echoing Concerns from Wes Streeting The prime minister mirrored language used by Wes Streeting, who warned recently how an “ugly” racism similar to the 1970s and 1980s had become worryingly commonplace once more with NHS staff were bearing the brunt of it. Streeting noted occurrences of both verbal and physical attacks based on people’s skin colour now happened so often that it was now “socially acceptable to be racist”. “We must end to discrimination across the UK and we need to place such harmful attitudes that has emerged in our country where it belongs and once again create an environment in this country that rejects racism to hold racist views,” the Health Secretary said. Critical Decision for Voters The Prime Minister spoke at the Labour party conference in September to outline political battle lines with his political opponents, saying that voters faced a crucial decision. The prime minister explained he was engaged in a “fight for the soul of our country”, noting that while the public expressed valid worries about illegal migration, there was an ethical boundary that Farage and others had crossed. Starmer pledged to confront those who argued that people who were not white were not truly British and that households who had lived in Britain for years must be removed, stating those advocating these ideas constituted “against national unity”. “Encouraging racist violence and hostility, that is not expressing concern: it is illegal. Our political movement is proud of our flags, yet if they are painted with hateful messages, targeting a business owner to leave the country, that is not patriotism; that is pure discrimination,” he informed supporters.